Bleeding Out
by ialwaysneedyourstrength
Summary: The one where Alec is injured and Magnus doesn't pick up the phone. Post CoLS.


This is my first attempt at something malec. *Spoilers for CoLS*

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. _Nothing._

**Warnings:** I do not have a medical degree. Sorry if things are inaccurate.

* * *

_"So I bare my skin, and I count my sins, and I close my eyes, and I take it in, and I'm bleeding out. I'm bleeding out for you." ~Imagine Dragons_

* * *

When Isabelle Lightwood threw open the door to her brother Alec's bedroom, announcing herself with a loudly spoken demand for him to wake up, she unknowingly interrupted the only pleasant dream Alec had experienced in over three months. After Magnus had ended their relationship, Alec had been suffering from the same nightmare, which consisted of Magnus breaking up with him, and then preceding to tell him how worthless he was. In the dream, Magnus would point out all of Alec's flaws and as soon as Alec woke up, he'd find himself in a cold sweat and covered in self-loathing.

But this dream, the dream that Izzy had destroyed, was a memory that Alec thought about when he was at his most low, when he needed to remind himself that his life isn't all bad. The memory was of him and Magnus lying on the couch watching Project Runway (Magnus's idea not Alec's) while they ate Chinese food that Magnus had _magicked_ from Alec's favorite restaurant. It wasn't much, but it reminded Alec of the time before he and Magnus began fighting. Before Magnus's immortality became the number one thing on Alec's mind, and before he arranged the secret meetings with Camille.

Alec opened his eyes to see his sister standing over him with her hands on her hips. Before he could ask her what she wanted, she was yelling at him to get out of bed.

"It's two in the afternoon; you've been sleeping all day! Let's go! There's a swarm of Achaieraidemons in Central Park!"

"You know I was in the middle of a great—"

"Right now, I don't care about your dream, Alec!" she told him as she picked up his gear from the pile it sat in on the floor and threw it in his face.

Alec sighed and then got out of bed.

After five minutes of quickly getting dressed and grabbing his bow and favorite blades from the weapons room, Alec found himself riding the Institute's elevator down to the ground floor where his siblings were waiting for him.

OoOoOoOo

Defeating the demons was so simple that it had become a routine for the three shadowhunters. Despite the easiness of their victory, Isabelle had insisted that they all go out for dinner to celebrate, which is how, two hours after his sister ruined his dream, Alec arrived at Taki's for an early dinner with Jace, Isabelle, Clary, and Simon.

He wanted to go back to sleep once they'd returned to the institute to change out of their gear, but his sister had insisted that he go out with them.

"You need more sunlight," she'd told him.

Well Alec didn't want sunlight, he wanted Magnus back. He wanted him to forgive him and forget about all the mistakes he'd made. Of course that wasn't going to happen in the next hour so Alec agreed to eat with them at Taki's.

They sat at a booth with Clary and Jace on one side and Simon and Isabelle on the other. Alec pulled a chair over at sat by himself in front of his friends.

When the waitress came over and took their orders, she asked if Jace wanted his usual, and he winked in return, earning a smack on the arm from Clary.

"I was only joking," he told her, smiling.

Clary rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she pretended to be mad, but she was smiling. Jace smiled too.

"So how'd the demon thing go?" Simon asked, sipping at the blood concoction he'd gotten from the bar.

"Yeah, and why wasn't I invited?" Clary asked angrily.

"Obviously it went well or we wouldn't be sitting here with you, and-"

Jace cut Isabelle off. "And you're not going on any hunts until you're fully trained."

Clary crossed her arms over her chest in protest.

"You know I can handle myself; I don't see why I can't go with-" she stopped ranting when the waitress showed up with their food.

OoOoOoOo

"So today I ran into Magnus downtown," Simon told the group.

Alec didn't look up from the burger in his hands, he didn't want to see four sets of eyes locked on him, trying to see how he'd react.

"Oh?" Isabelle asked.

"Yeah, I was buying something that this store, and he was there too. I was kinda surprised considering it wasn't exactly the most high-end clothing store."

Isabelle nodded. "How'd he look? I bet he looked like crap."

"Actually he seemed fi-" presumably it was Isabelle who kicked Simon in the shin. "Horrible. He looked awful. He had no glitter on or anything sparkly."

Alec shook his head and looked up at the group.

"I don't need you guys to sugar coat everything just to make me feel better. I'm fine." Lie. "I don't care about Magnus anymore." Super lie. "And I'm happy that he's doing well." Bullshit lie.

Everyone collectively dropped the subject.

"I'm gonna go."

Alec rose from his chair and dropped a couple of bills on the table.

"Wait-" Jace started.

"I'm just gonna walk home. See you guys later."

With that, Alec left the restaurant with his black hoodie up and his hands stuffed in his pockets. He didn't bother using a glamour because he didn't care if anyone saw him. The numbness inside of him prevented him from giving a shit about anyone else and their opinions about the emo boy walking down the street.

OoOoOoOo

"Why the hell would you mention Magnus!?" Clary kicked Simon from across the table.

"I don't know! I wasn't thinking..."

"Yeah you never do," Jace told him.

"Oh fuck off. It's not like you've been parabatai of the year: you broke his phone for Pete's sake!"

"That's because he wouldn't stop calling him!"

"But it's been months..." Simon trailed off.

OoOoOoOo

Alec trudged down the street, trying to keep his mind off of Magnus. Unfortunately, everything reminded him of the warlock.

_Dammit, Simon._ Alec thought to himself. Why'd he have to mention him? Why'd he make Alec say those things. He felt like he was betraying Magnus (again) by saying he didn't care about him. He cared, way too much. And sure maybe calling Magnus repeatedly and then hanging up was stupid, but he'd never been in a relationship before. He wasn't sure how to cope, but he was sure as hell that he wouldn't go to Jace or even Isabelle for support. He was a shadowhunter, he didn't purposely show weakness.

It began to rain, but he continued to walk. Walking in the drizzle helped him to clear his mind.

Hardly any people we on the streets, most of them had taken shelter, so it was only Alec that heard the girl's blood-curdling scream.

"HELP ME!"

Instantly vigilant, Alec ran to the origin of her voice. He ran off the street and down an alley. There he saw six large men standing before him. Two of them were holding a girl down. She looked about twenty and had messy blonde hair and blood spattered clothes.

Alec sprung into action, kicking and punching the men, and flipping skillfully out of the way when they retaliated. On of the men pulled out a knife but Alec knocked it out of his hands. He was a skilled fighter despite his size, but this was unknown to the men. They underestimated his strength and soon four men were down, and the only ones that remained were the men that had the girl in their grasps.

"We don't want any trouble, boy," one of them told Alec. "She owes us money and refuses to pay up."

"He's lying! Don't let him hurt me!" She shrieked.

Alec considered this for a minute and then charged the two men. They dropped the girl and rushed forward. Alec had spent years sparing with Jace so he knew exactly how to defend himself. It was actually easy considering the sloppiness of the men's form.

During the fight, the girl ran off. Alec noticed this and rolled his eyes. _You're welcome._

Alec was about to deliver the final blow to the last man, when he felt something rip through his side and then his shoulder. He staggered back from the final man and turned around. Lying on the ground was one of the first men he'd knocked out. He had a gun in his hand.

_Fuck._

Alec felt his legs weakening so he stumbled over to the alley wall. He coughed and he felt blood climbing its way up his throat. He leaned over gagging and spraying blood all over his jeans.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. He fumbled blindly for the phone in his pocket, and pulled it out.

_Thank the angel Jace had the decency to help me get a new phone._

His fingers slipped over the buttons and as a result it took him several tries to call his sister.

OoOoOoOo

Isabelle was still sitting at the booth in Taki's when her phone rang. She reached into her pocket to see the call was from her brother.

"Helloooo?" She answered.

"Iz," Alec choked out, his voice barely a whisper.

Suddenly alert and eyes wide, Isabelle waved her arm frantically at her friends. They all looked at her, concerned.

"Alec? What's wrong?"

He didn't respond immediately.

"Alec?!"

"... I'm hurt. I-" A cough. The desperateness of his voice made Isabelle's heart race. "Iz..." His breathing came out in gasps.

"Alec, where are you?!" Isabelle practically screamed into the phone.

"Five-" Alec struggled for a breath. "Blocks..."

Isabelle relayed this information to the others, and they all ran out of the restaurant and onto the street.

"Alec just stay where you are, okay? Keep talking to me... Don't go to sleep."

The noise Alec made was intended as a laugh but it came out as a groan.

"H-he shot me," Alec clenched his teeth to fight back the scream that was bubbling up in his throat. He'd shifted to make himself for comfortable, but instead he only caused himself more pain.

"It's okay, Alec. We'll be right-"

Isabelle glanced at her phone to see the call had dropped.

"Dammit!" She screamed as she raced down the street, Clary and Simon right behind her and Jace several yards ahead.

As she sprinted, she punched the familiar number of the only person who might be able to help.

OoOoOoOo

Magnus lounged in his living room while enjoying his favorite type of herbal tea. He was watching the newest episode of Project Runway: All-Stars. Chairman Meow had run away again, probably because Magnus had been feeding him at irregular times. Magnus wasn't going to lie to himself, he missed Alec. A lot. And some times he felt so lonely that he forgot to feed his cat, which was problematic, but that didn't mean he'd forgotten about what Alec did.

The warlock paused the television when he heard his phone ringing.

"Alexander..." He murmured when he saw the caller ID. He wanted more than anything to pick up the phone and tell Alec he forgave him, but instead he reminded himself that getting back together with Alec would only end in more misery. Even if they could forget about the incident with Camille, there would always be the overwhelming subject of Magnus' immortality.

So Magnus let the call go to voicemail. Not wanting to hear what Alec had to say, he switched off the volume and returned to his couch.

OoOoOoOo

"Come on, Magnus! Pick up!" Isabelle shouted into her phone.

In front of her, Jace took a sharp turn into an alley. Seconds later he sprinted back out.

"He's not there!"

They were five blocks away from the restaurant. Alec had to be near by.

The next alley was they came across was where they found Alec (and the remnants of the fight he'd had).

He was slumped against the wall, eyes closed, and hand pressed against what Isabelle assumed was a bullet wound in his side. The other hand held his phone. From the mouth of the alley, he looked dead. But once the gang had run over to him they could see his chest shakily rising.

"Alec?"

Jace knelt down beside his parabatai. He inspected the wound in Alec's shoulder and he carefully moved Alec's hand to see the other.

Alec's eyes snapped open. He glanced around and then locked his gaze on Jace. He tried to speak but then blood bubbled up in his mouth.

"Hey, you'll be okay. Relax." Jace turned to Isabelle who was knelt on the other side of Alec. "Call him again," he ordered.

OoOoOoOo

Magnus had happened to walk by the telephone when it had begun to ring. He frowned at the caller ID. It was the third time that Isabelle had called him in the last fifteen minutes.

_It's probably nothing._

OoOoOoOo

Isabelle threw her phone across the alleyway when Magnus didn't pick up.

Clary and Simon jumped back from the three shadowhunters and decided to stay out of their way considering they really couldn't help anyway.

"We need to call the police," Jace said, holding his hand on Alec's shoulder to stop the bleeding. He took his free hand and snatched Alec's phone from his grasp and dialed 9-1-1.

"Hello, what's you're emergency?"

"My brother's been shot twice."

"Where are you, sir?"

Jace gave the operator their location and then hung up.

Alec's eyes began to droop. And his breathing became nearly inexistent.

"C-cold," Alec managed to stutter.

Jace gingerly moved closer to Alec, and motioned for Isabelle to do the same.

"Alec, open your eyes," Isabelle commanded. Her ears perked up when she heard sirens in the distance. "Hear that? Help's on the way." She nudged his cheek, which was worryingly cold. "Alec? Come on, stay awake... Please?"

Alec didn't move.

"Please, don't-" she broke off with a sob. "Alec, I can't loose another brother." When Max had died, when Sebastian had killed him, Isabelle had blamed herself. She was his older sister, she was supposed to protect him, but she'd failed. Alec had reminded her that there was no way she could have known that Sebastian wasn't who he said he was, and she tried to listen, but it had been easier to blame herself than to harmonize with Alec. And now it was happening all over again. If Alec died it would be her fault. She'd made him go out with them. If she hadn't forced him to go, he would have been back at the Institute instead of dying in an alleyway.

Suddenly, two police cars and an ambulance pulled up. Paramedics flooded the alley and insisted that Jace and Isabelle step away.

The rest was a blur for the two siblings. All they remembered was the paramedics taking Alec away on a stretcher and then being asked by the police what happened.

OoOoOoOo

_The demon tore is jagged teeth into the soft flesh. It ripped the skin from the bone and proceeded to snap the bones like twigs._

_Alec screamed in pain as the helplessly struggled against the demon's grip._

_"MAGNUS!" He called. "HELP ME!"_

_The warlock stepped forward to save his blue-eyed lover when the demon sank his claws into Alec's chest and tour out his heart. Alec's screams died immediately, and the little color he had left drained from his skin. The creature turned to Magnus, who stood motionless, horrified at what he'd witnessed, and threw the heart to the ground at Magnus's feet._

_"You couldn't save him," the beast mocked._

Magnus lurched out from under his covers. His hair was matted down on one side and his now sweaty silk top clung to his skin. He desperately tried to calm his breathing and steady his heart rate as he climbed out of bed and padded towards the kitchen to make himself some tea. The clock in his living room read 2:00 AM.

The warlock sighed.

_I really need to get a handle on these nightmares. Maybe I'll try a sleeping-_

He stopped when he came to his answering machine. It blinked up at him, displaying that he had three new messages. He pressed a button and they began to play.

"First message.." _Beep._

"Um.. Hi Magnus." It was Alec. "I-I need to tell you-" he broke off in a coughing fit. "Some guy," a gasp of air, "he s-shot me. And I know you- i know... I-I just wanted to say goodbye." He didn't say anything for a while, and Magnus feared Alec had died while leaving the message.

"Alexander...?" he whispered to himself, his voice full of fear.

"... I love you."

The line went dead.

Before Magnus could react, the next message began to play.

"Magnus, it's Isabelle. You better get you sparkly ass down here to {}. Alec is hurt and I need you to heal him. I don't give a shit that you guys broke up. I'll even pay you since this is your fucking job. Just get down here and make him better..." She lost her aggressive tone. "Magnus, I can't- I already lost Max."

The final voice mail was also from Isabelle.

"You couldn't pick up the god damn phone once!? I've been calling you for hours, Magnus! In case you care, Alec's at the hospital on East 26th and First Ave. He almost didn't make it. He was shot twice trying to protect some random girl. Thanks for your help, by the way."

Magnus runs his fingers through his hair and begins to breathe again (he didn't realize he'd been holding it).

The first thing he does is call Isabelle and then hang up before she answers. He should just go to the hospital in person. That's what ex-boyfriends do, right?

_Damn these shadowhunters._

OoOoOoOo

Doctors shuffled past, some holding their pagers as they raced through the halls. Nurses with clipboards walked by, charting patient's care. The entire place was rushing and strange. Sitting quietly in the otherwise empty waiting room was the gang.

Jace had always hated hospitals. He was far from a frequent visitor, but he still wasn't a fan of the way they smelled. Like death and suffering. He'd had too much of that in his life. But he sat quietly in the waiting room with his sister and Clary and Simon because his best friend, his parabatai, his _brother_ was dying. And it was his job to be there.

Clary noticed the way Jace had been resting his hand over his parabatai rune for the past hour so she took his free hand in hers. It was a simple gesture, but she hoped it would convey the love she felt for him. She had never really been close to Alec, but that didn't mean she wanted to see anything bad happen to him. Jace shot her a small smile before he returned his gaze to the ground, his fingers brushing against his chest where his parabatai rune rests.

The rune ached. Jace felt it all throughout his body. He felt the echo of Alec's pain and wished he could be with him.

Simon rested his head against the wall while Isabelle laid next to him, her head in his lap. He ran his fingers through her hair carefully. She had been fighting back tears ever since they'd found Alec is the alley way. He couldn't imagine what she was going through. To lose her younger brother and to have her parents basically divorce, and now this? Isabelle Lightwood's entire family was broken, and Simon hoped to whatever deity was there that Alec pulled through.

OoOoOoOo

It wasn't for another seven hours that a nurse told the teenagers that they could see Alec.

"He's still unconscious, but you can go in his room now," she told them.

They all nodded in appreciation and hustled down the hall to Alec's room in the ICU.

When they located his room (number 622) they found Alec propped up against the slightly arched bed. His eyes were closed, his breathing even. They'd stuck an IV into his arm and started him on a morphine drip. The skin around his eyes were purple, and he had several bruises around his neck and cheeks that no one had noticed before in the alley. Fresh white bandages covered his upper body.

Jace pulled a chair over and sat down next to his friend.

"Dammit, Alec," he whispered to himself. Not because he was angry, but because he was scared. Jace freaking Lightwood was _scared_. He hated feeling scared. He hated feeling vulnerable, and he hated feeling like there was nothing he could do to help.

OoOoOoOo

"Iz, it's one-thirty in the morning should you really be calling Magnus?" Clary asked as Isabelle furiously punched the warlock's number into her phone.

"Who cares what time it is? I hope I wake him up."

"They broke up..."

Isabelle sighed, contemplating.

If she were Magnus, she'd want to know. So she dialed his number, and when he didn't pick up, she laughed. Because she had to find a way to make herself smile and because she was so exhausted that anything was funny, even the way Jace had fallen asleep with his head resting by Alec's knee.

OoOoOoOo

Magnus silently crept down the wing where Alec was supposed to be. Upon hearing Isabelle's voicemail, he'd quickly thrown on a pair of tight fitting jeans, a sparkly tank top, and killer boots. Normally his hair would be done up in spikes, but in stead he'd opted for tossing rainbow glitter onto his flat hair. Going out in public in such a way would have been unacceptable, but it was three in the morning. And it was _Alexander Gideon Lightwood_. As much as he wanted to be mad at him, he still loved the boy.

As he walked down the hall he came across a nurses' station.

"Sir, visiting hours are-"

In a flash of blue sparks the nurse's voice was cut off, and her mind deleted any memory of seeing the warlock.

He continued down the hall until he came across room 622. He'd _borrowed_ the nurses log and easily found which room was his blue-eyed shadowhunter's.

He gazed into the window of Alec's room, almost smiling when he saw the familiar crowd of teenagers huddled around the black haired boy. Jace was sleeping on Alec's bed, while Clary, Isabelle, and Simon were seated, probably uncomfortably, on the chairs that the room provided.

Unbeknownst to the five teenagers, Magnus cautiously entered the room.

He stood in the middle of the room, his gaze locked on Alec's injuries.

_I could have prevented this._ he thought. _Why couldn't I have just picked_ _up the phone?_ Why couldn't they forget Magnus was immortal and Alec would be lucky to make it to twenty-five? Why did the world have to be so damn complicated?

As if he would hear Magnus's thoughts, Alec began to stir. The shadowhunter's eyelids moved and his fingers twitched. Slowly his eyes began to open.

His cerulean eyes were glassy, and his eye lids kept falling, never staying open for too long. They scanned the room, and when they finally remarked the tall, glittering warlock standing before them, Alec's brow pressed together in confusion as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, like it didn't make sense.

That hurt Magnus. Seeing Alec not able to understand why he would visit him at the hospital made him regret coming to see him at all. Had Alec gotten over him in the three months that they'd been apart? Was this trip just a waste of his time? Was it stupid to believe that Alec would want to see him when it was his fault that he was in the hospital with two bullet wounds that Magnus could have fixed him in minutes had he actually answered when Alec and Isabelle called?

"Magnus?" Alec asked in disbelief.

The warlock's fear washed away when he heard the inflection in Alec's voice. He was shocked to see him, but he wasn't upset about it; he was relieved. His tone suggested that he'd hoped he'd come.

Magnus went to Alec's side, bent down to kiss his forehead, and whispered, soothingly, "Shh, darling, go back to sleep." Alec did as he was told and closed his already dropping eyes. Within seconds his breathing was calm and regular.

As soon as he was sure that Alec was asleep, Magnus pushed up the sleeves of his shirt, and began to get to work on Alec's wounds. Closing up two bullet wounds was exhausting, but he'd done more with less energy in his system. Once he'd competed the task, he _magicked_ a chair from the waiting from outside the down and sat down, his eyes closing before he hit the seat.

OoOoOoOo

When Alec woke up, he thought the thing with Magnus was just a beautiful dream. He didn't expect to be fully healed, and he especially didn't expect to see the warlock sitting across from him, asleep.

The blue-eyed shadowhunter smiled, and then closed his eyes, burning the image of a sleeping Magnus into his eyelids. He drifted back into the his mind, the nightmares trying to take hold, but Alec doesn't worry this time because Magnus was there.

* * *

_The end... _I thought that might be a good place to end it seeing as this wasn't going to be a story where Magnus and Alec got back together; as a matter of fact, in the original outline, Alec died.

You've probably read it a million times, but do a girl a favor and review? It'd mean a lot to me.


End file.
